Glossary · Q
Qibla
Also called qibla wall
The direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, towards which Muslims pray; also the wall of a mosque that faces it.
See also: Mihrab
Rules that use the word
Everything turns to the qibla. Orient the prayer hall so that its principal wall, the qibla wall, stands square to the direction of Mecca, and mark the middle of that wall with a niche, the mihrab.
Court and prayer hall. Build the congregational mosque as an enclosed courtyard (sahn) with a covered prayer hall (haram) on its qibla side and shaded porticoes (riwaq) on the others.
The four-iwan court. Place an iwan (a vaulted hall walled on three sides and open on the fourth) at the middle of each side of the courtyard, the one on the qibla side leading to a domed chamber before the mihrab.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters The Islamic World.
A feature of Early Islamic (Umayyad and Abbasid) architecture.
Nearby in the glossary
Pycnostyle · Pylon · Pyramid · Pyramidion · Quadrant vault · Quadratura · Quadripartite vault · Quincunx